Police cite calls with ex-Banco Master partner in probe of senator
Jacques Wagner
Jefferson Rudy/Agência Senado
Brazil’s Federal Police identified 74 voice calls between Senator Jaques Wagner (Workers’ Party, PT) and Augusto Ferreira Lima, a former partner at Banco Master, between November 17, 2023, and May 25, 2025. Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça on Thursday lifted the seal on the investigation, in which federal investigators allege Wagner acted to benefit the bank.
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According to the Federal Police, the calls totaled more than five hours and 30 minutes over a period of 555 days, which investigators say demonstrates a close relationship between the senator and Lima. Wagner became a target of the ninth phase of Operation Compliance Zero in June.
“The evidence indicates that his dealings with members of the Banco Master group were conducted predominantly through voice calls—a method deliberately chosen to avoid written records. The documented conversations show that Augusto Lima himself frequently used voice messages or telephone calls when sharing sensitive information with the senator,” the Federal Police said in a court filing.
Investigators said the recurring calls point to a “notable degree of closeness” between Wagner and the former Banco Master partner. They also cited exchanges of what they described as affectionate messages between the two men and their families.
“The relationship between Augusto Ferreira Lima and Jaques Wagner was marked by expressions of affection and close personal and family ties, including the exchange of year-end greetings in the context of gifts to public officials in the state of Bahia,” investigators wrote.
As one example, the Federal Police cited a trip taken in October 2023 by Wagner’s wife, Maria de Fátima Carneiro de Mendonça, to a private island owned by Lima in the municipality of Candeias, Bahia.
According to intercepted messages, Lima arranged for a helicopter to take her to the property. After arriving, she sent him messages saying: “Everything is beautiful!!!” and “We love you.”
In a June 17 ruling, Justice Mendonça authorized the Federal Police to monitor the approximate location of Wagner’s and Lima’s mobile phones for ten days. Investigators argued the measure could help advance the inquiry because the two allegedly discussed sensitive matters through phone calls, voice messages, and in-person meetings.
Mendonça said the monitoring could help reconstruct the movements of those under investigation, identify contacts and possible meetings at locations relevant to the inquiry, and confirm or rule out investigative hypotheses, including the possible involvement of additional individuals.
The justice also cited the risk of information leaks. He noted that one of the investigation’s targets requested a meeting with his chambers on the same day the Federal Police submitted search-and-seizure requests related to the case. According to columnist Malu Gaspar of newspaper O Globo, that individual was Wagner.
On July 21, the Federal Police summoned Wagner to testify during the first week of August. Investigators’ main suspicion concerns the purchase of an apartment in Salvador worth about R$2.5 million, allegedly negotiated through Lima.
According to the Federal Police, negotiations involving the luxury property continued even after the launch of the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero in November 2025, when former banker Daniel Vorcaro was first arrested.
The 245-square-meter apartment is located in the Horto Florestal neighborhood of Salvador. “Documents extracted from the analyzed devices show that negotiations over the property continued even after the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero was launched in November 2025,” the Federal Police said.
Wagner is a longtime ally of President Lula. After becoming a target of the Federal Police investigation, he stepped down as the government’s leader in the Senate. He has nevertheless maintained his intention to run in this year’s election.
Valor contacted lawyers representing Jaques Wagner and Augusto Ferreira Lima but had not received a response by the time this text was published.
